I have a one year old Rancilio Siliva that I clean and descale every couple of months. I have measured the flow to check the pressure of the machine.

My problem is that it seems I really have to tightly pack the double basket to get good crema. I mean I have to basically pack the espresso in until the portafilter won't fit and then scrape a little off the top to get it to fit. Only when it is *really* hard to turn the portafilter into place do I get good crema. Otherwise it's little pale and runny and the shot is too quick. Also it seems I have to really put a lot of pressure on the tamper ... and I mean a lot, I am a big guy. If I do all this work I get great crema, great tasting coffee and great "tiger" stripes.

A lot of the videos I watch seem to use a lot less espresso (topping off lower in the basket) and just a simple twist of the tamper and then "boom" good crema .. with good striping.

What am I doing wrong? I have a Virtuoso Preciso grinder set to pretty fine .. about 4F right now. The scale is a bit weird ... starts with a 1 then 4 ticks then 10. So I am on the second tick in from the 1 on the macro scale.

I am using fresh beans from Amazon ... Lavazza Super Crema .. which I store in a vacuum container.I think my cofee is actually coming in contact with the screen on the brew head ... which I know is not right.

Agreed. If you're grind setting is dialed in, then the other simplest explanation is that the beans are stale. I'd try to find a local roaster who puts the roast date on their beans. In my experience, I've found that espresso beans really get good 5-7 days after roasting. With something like Lavazza, you're just paying for the brand name- no guarantee of quality.

I have a V3 and wonder: why don't you grind finer? That would slow the pull and hopefully extract more of the flavor. I wrestle with grinds as my Baratza Virtuoso is barely able to keep up, using a 0 setting. I borrowed a friend's OE Pharos grinder (Titan burrs, etc) and was surprised what the Silvia can do with good grinds done more finely than my Baratza can accomplish.

I have to agree about the freshness of the beans, but I'm not as fanatical as some here. I used to by Lavaza and generally liked it. But the older the beans, the less taste and more acidity. I recently switched to small roaster in Wisconsin, and the taste is much better. Now that could be b/c roast is w/in 5 days of arrival, or because beans are just better tasting (and more expensive!).

I had a Silvia for 6½ years and NEVER had a cup that was not full of crema. I had quite a few that were sink shots, and others that tasted not really very good, but never had even one without thick, rich crema. Secret? use fresh coffee.

No crema is generally caused by one of two things - stale coffee, and I don't remember the other one... ;-)

Seriously, unless your grind is WAY off (too coarse), or your brew temperature is WAY low (like you just turned the machine on three minutes ago), or the pressure relief valve is set wrong of faulty (low brew pressure), there is no reason (or at elast to say, virtually no reason) to be producing crema-less coffee unless the coffee is stale. Even gushers will produce crema with fresh coffee.

And additionally, tamping force has VERY little to do with it. If you find that you have to tamp very hard (like over 75 pounds) or very lightly (like under 10 pounds) you are compensating for other problems that need to be addressed.

Ok .. First let me thank all the gurus out there are provided advice ... it was all good advice.

I am now pulling shots like a champ after doing the following:

- Upgraded to the La Marzocco Double Portafilter Basket ($7)- Got the new flat screen kit from pidsilvia.com ($20)- Replaced the grinder with Baratza (my old grinder was not grinding fine at a setting of "4" ... and I could not choke it out even at a setting of "1"). Baratza had amazing support.

And of course ... some really fresh locally roasted coffee (as you all suggested).Got some great stuff from Dilworth Coffee here in town and from Counter Culture Coffee upstate.

I am now using only about 14-16g of coffee for a double shot ... and I don't have to tamp very hard.Getting wonderful results and superb crema ...

Thanks to everyone who responded ... just a fantastic set of advice.And hopefully this thread will help out other newbies like myself.

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